The present invention relates to a grille shutter attaching structure of an automotive vehicle in which a grille shutter unit provided with plural shutters extending in a vehicle width direction is attached to a frame-shaped shroud.
As exemplified in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2014-198509, it is known that the grille shutter attaching structure of the automotive vehicle comprises a driving actuator for opening/closing the shutters which is arranged to control introduction of air to a radiator according to a driving state of the vehicle.
An opening/closing driving means (36) including the actuator disclosed in the above-described patent document is provided at one (43) of side wall portions (43, 44) which are arranged on both sides of a unit frame (31) of a grille shutter unit (30) (see FIGS. 9 and 11 in the above-described patent document).
In the above-described structure comprising the opening/closing driving means (36) being provided at the side wall portion (43) of the grille shutter unit (30), however, since the opening/closing driving means (36) is attached to an attaching flange (46) which protrudes outward, in a vehicle width direction, beyond the side wall portion (43) (see the same figures in the above-described patent document), there is a concern that the opening/closing driving means (36) protruding outward beyond the side wall portion (43) may interfere with an auxiliary parts, such as a sensor or an air induction member, which exists around the side wall portion (43). Moreover, in a case where the opening/closing driving means (36) is arranged on an inward side, in the vehicle width direction, of the side wall portion (43), there is a concern that the opening/closing driving means (36) may partially close an opening of a shroud member (20), so that an opening area may be improperly small. Thus, there is room for improvement because the structure comprising the opening/closing driving means (36) tends to receive restrictions in layout.